SINCE its introduction in the fourth quarter of 2009 the RICS (Cyprus) Property Price Index has reported movements in property prices and rents on a quarterly basis using a methodology produced by Reading University in the UK.
The thirtieth edition of the Index, which was issued last month, reported that the average price of residential apartments and houses across the island rose by 1.3% and 2.3% respectively during the first quarter of 2017.
However, to put these figures in perspective, the following chart indicates how much property prices have changed since the first edition of the Index was published for the fourth quarter of 2009.
Location | Type | 2009 Q4 Price (€) |
2017 Q1 Price (€) |
Percentage Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nicosia | Apartments | 171,155 | 109,900 | -35.79% |
Houses | 523,438 | 381,986 | -27.02% | |
Retail | 1,079,167 | 520,678 | -51.75% | |
Warehouse | 2,280,000 | 1,155,976 | -49.30% | |
Office | 758,000 | 547,724 | -27.74% | |
Limassol | Apartments | 177,978 | 113,229 | -36.38% |
Houses | 496,250 | 324,032 | -34.70% | |
Retail | 709,722 | 464,700 | -34.52% | |
Warehouse | 2,700,000 | 1,705,199 | -36.84% | |
Office | 600,000 | 417,681 | -30.39% | |
Larnaca | Apartments | 184,492 | 126,122 | -31.64% |
Houses | 438,750 | 293,066 | -33.20% | |
Retail | 641,667 | 298,478 | -53.48% | |
Warehouse | 1,933,333 | 1,327,007 | -31.36% | |
Office | 480,000 | 315,187 | -34.34% | |
Paphos | Apartments | 154,917 | 97,341 | -37.17% |
Houses | 460,417 | 386,679 | -16.02% | |
Retail | 602,778 | 281,220 | -53.35% | |
Warehouse | 1,405,000 | 1,079,757 | -23.15% | |
Office | 523,333 | 330,663 | -36.82% | |
Famagusta/Paralimni | Apartments | 153,790 | 83,626 | -45.62% |
Houses | 412,500 | 320,916 | -22.20% | |
Retail | 408,333 | 215,987 | -47.11% | |
Warehouse | 1,200,000 | 827,862 | -31.01% | |
Office | 337,500 | 215,127 | -36.26% | |
Cyprus (average) | Apartments | 168,466 | 106,044 | -37.05% |
Houses | 466,271 | 341,336 | -26.79% | |
Retail | 688,333 | 356,213 | -48.25% | |
Warehouse | 1,903,667 | 1,219,160 | -35.96% | |
Office | 539,767 | 365,276 | -32.33% |
Prices of residential houses and apartments rose by 53.7% during the first quarter of 2006 and the third quarter of 2008, but then fell 9.4% by the end of the fourth quarter of 2010 as the property bubble burst.
Clearly, property prices still have a long way to go to recover lost ground.
In contrast the house I sold in 2002 just outside London to move to Cyprus was £330k. Zoopla tells me it’s now worth £695k double the price.
The new villa I bought in Cyprus for C£200k is now worth less than half about €220k that is if I could sell it? In the UK I owned the house, here I spent over ten years trying to get the title deeds, not knowing if my dream would crash and burn.
We live on an Island full of broken dreams and unfinished houses and yet we are still building because that’s all we know.